Race And Privilege Essay

In this day and age there are a plethora of problems in our society. A lot of the problems in America are constantly geared towards race and privilege. Privilege is a specified advantage towards something that is given to certain people or groups. A lot of the hype in today’s society is because of how heaps of people have privilege, more privilege, or lack of privilege over others. This is specifically geared toward Caucasian people and in some cases, people with money. Privilege is all around, but do we really recognize or question our privilege? Before I read this chapter and read the questions given, I would have said that I don’t have privilege. The reason is because I am a woman of color and we are rarely afforded a sought after thing

Another example of the little bit of privilege that I have, is religion. I am a Christian and America is a Christian nation. If I were to claim myself as Christian, I would probably be less ridiculed if a Muslim stated his/her religion. Not everyone in America are very welcoming towards other religions because they may or may not be affiliate with something bad. A lot of times, the only reason I have privilege is because of peoples preconceived notions. Someone would more likely give me special treatment because they have this assumption that I am better than the next option. I do have certain privileges, but in my opinion, it’s not enough to matter. The reason for this is mainly because of my race. The only privilege I have is because I am a Christian, or just got lucky and was better off than someone else. Beside race and religion, social class has a lot to do with the certain privileges I have. A key example is where I live. My father lives on a predominantly white side of town, and my mother lives on a predominantly black and Hispanic part of town. If I were to tell someone that I lived with my dad in said neighborhood, then I would most likely be considered better than others of

Because of my dark skin, I would be considered less than if I was next to a white person. This is the same for a lot of things, not just race. A lot of people have stereotypes toward older people and disabled people. If I were to see someone older than me, I’d automatically assume they are very incapable, the same with people who have disabilities. I would be completely wrong to assume such things, because these people might be just as, if not more active than me. Someone with a prosthetic leg can be prepping for a marathon and I don’t know that, I just assume that that person can’t even walk. Stereotypes are a strong factor in all things. I have not known one person that has not ever had a stereotype toward another person, myself included. In our society, stereotyping is the norm, we are just starting to recognized how bad it is. It’s hard to not stereotype, because if we meet someone we have to form some kind of opinion. A lot of the opinions we come up with are based off of stereotypes. No matter what, stereotyping is going to happen. We can be completely careful and it would not change a thing. What we can do, is try not to stereotype, or form opinions, too